Bladder Senna seed Colutea arborescens

LATIN NAME: Colutea arborescens

COMMON NAME: Bladder Senna

The bladder senna is the bright, papery pod of the dry bank, and the small, yellow flowers open in the loose clusters among the fine leaves. The deciduous or semi-evergreen, bushy shrub carries the pinnate leaves of the small, blue-green leaflets and the small, bright-yellow, pea-like flowers in the loose clusters through the summer, one of the fine, bright sights of the dry bank, to be followed by the curious, inflated, papery, bladder-like pods that rattle in the wind. The shrub is a fine, generous presence of the dry garden, and it is a shrub of the open, sunny, sharp-draining ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The bladder senna is a curious subject of the plant science, and the papery pods keep showing up in the work on the wind-dispersed shrubs. The way the inflated, papery, bladder-like pods carry the seeds on the wind has been examined closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the wind-dispersed shrubs, the dry-land legumes and the members of the bean family. The pinnate leaves and the bushy habit have also made it a fine study shrub, and the bladder senna is a regular subject of the work on the papery pods of the dry world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The bladder senna is a fine, bright shrub of the dry bank and the sunny border. The curious, inflated, papery, bladder-like pods rattle in the wind through the late summer, one of the fine, curious sights of the dry bank, and the small, bright-yellow, pea-like flowers open in the loose clusters through the summer, drawing the bees. The shrub stands the heat, the drought, the wind and the poor ground with the ease, and it is one of the fine choices for the dry bank, the coastal garden and the soil-holding slope. It has been written about in the horticultural and the ecological papers for the papery pods and the tough ways, and it is a fine, bright shrub of the open, sunny, sharp-draining garden.

Give the young shrub the open, sunny spot, and the papery pods will come in the second season.

To grow the bladder senna from seed, sow the small, brown seeds on the surface of a tray of fine, gritty soil, without covering them, keep the tray in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings thread up within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the sharp-draining ground, the papery pods will rattle through the late summer.

Uses: Medicinal

Attractive hardy Mediterranean shrub. Yellow flowers bear bladder-like pods which when squeezed go off with a bang. Like true senna (Cassia spp.), its leaves have purgative properties, but the effect is much less drastic.